In yet another sign that lamentations about the death of the books coverage are only the bookish equivalent of the repressive hypothesis, the New York Daily News has started Page Views, a new blog devoted to books. Deputy op-ed editor Alexander Nazaryan writes, “You may not think of the tabloid as a particularly literary format, but we are going to challenge your assumptions of what constitutes literary/cultural reporting in this town.” Which means tabloid coverage of literature: “We will post old Daily News photographs of Truman Capote, all-but-naked, and Norman Mailer, just sprung from jail,” he writes. “We will praise; we will offend.”

UPDATE: The promised photo of Capote in nothing but a loin cloth has been posted.

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